Predator: Every Film Ranked Worst To Best

By the time Alien vs. Predator hit theaters in 2004, seven years had passed since audiences had last seen the Alien grace the big screen in 1997's Alien: Resurrection, while 14 years had gone by since they'd last seen the Predator in 1990's Predator 2, the film that actually teased that the two species existed in the same universe. To say that both franchises needed a jumpstart to stay relevant at the time would be an understatement, and thus Alien vs. Predator arrived in an attempt to revive them by pitting them against one another.

Although critics didn't warm to it, the film was a modest financial success, an ultimately harmless, albeit arguably unnecessary first outing. Its attempt to legitimize itself as part of the overall Alien and Predator universe through the inclusion of Lance Henriksen's Charles Bishop Weyland is admirable, but the premise itself feels cut at the knees by its PG-13 rating, the film never able to go all out with the type of horror the standalone franchises had been known for nor go crazy with its own action, the end result being a film that feels "safe" for the sake of trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

Because of that, AvP lacks a real identity all its own to compete with, say, the original Predator or Alien films, something that holds it back from ever being what it feels like it could've - and should've - been: A film worthy of the two icons at its core rather than the fleeting novelty it is.